Chuck McCuen, who has served as an assistant men’s tennis coach at Clemson for the past six seasons, was named head coach, associate director of athletics Phil Grayson announced Monday.

McCuen replaces Chuck Kriese who retired in May, after 33 years as the head coach of the Tiger tennis program. He becomes only the seventh head tennis coach since the program began at Clemson in 1910.

“I am very passionate about helping our young men at Clemson become the very best people, students and athletes that they can be,” said McCuen.

McCuen, 47, was the tennis director at Georgia State for 19 years (1983-2002) prior to coming to Clemson. McCuen had a positive impact on the Clemson program in his first season at Clemson in 2003 when he helped coach the Tigers to 25 wins, including a 6-2 record in the ACC. It was Clemson’s highest win total since 1989.

McCuen coached Georgia State to five conference titles and took the team to the NCAA Tournament three times in a four-year period (1999, 2000, and 2002). While at Georgia State he compiled a 261-162 record in 19 years and produced winning seasons in nine of 10 years in one stretch, including six consecutive winning seasons.

He became an NAIA All-American at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., and went on to earn double degrees in recreation management and history in 1983.

McCuen helped create the first-ever collegiate wheel-chair team in the United States at Georgia State.

While at Georgia State, he was active in the community contributing his time to Atlanta’s youth tennis programs as a tennis instructor. He has been married to Dr. Linda McCuen, a professor at Anderson University, for 26 years.